Radio icon Samuel Allen passed away
GREAT BAY- PJD2 Radio personality Samuel Allen Jr is no longer with us. Allen who had to be airlifted to the Dominican Republic on Friday afternoon after suffering from a stroke died while he was receiving treatment early last Saturday morning. He celebrated his 48th birthday on September 17.
It was quite a scene outside the Intensive Care Unit at the St Maarten Medical Center when members of the local media converged. They were not there to capture breaking news, instead they were there to hear good news on the state of Allen’s medical condition after he suffered a stroke last Thursday.
Allen, aka ‘Venus’, who spent countless hours providing coverage for the just concluded Parliamentary Elections may have pushed himself to the limit mentally and paid the ultimate price with his life which in itself is a tragic loss to the media.
His now widow, Brenda Rodriguez De Allen, was optimistic at first and was displaying all the attributes of a very strong woman. She calmly acknowledged the presence of all the persons who made it their duty to visit her husband who was on life support.
Among those that turned up there during the morning hours were former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, Allen’s employer Don Hughes and Don Hughes Jr., while Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever and former journalist Lisa Brown-McKay were among the few that had the opportunity to see him in the afternoon.
The wait was long and from the body language displayed by his wife, things were not looking good. The sudden activity inside the ICU room resulted in staff asking persons to vacate the area, only his wife was allowed to remain outside the door.
From a distance, she could be seen clasping her hands and appeared to be praying silently, the situation had finally having an effect on her and she had to be consoled. With the invaluable assistance from government officials, all the necessary paper work which permitted him to be flown out was done in an expeditious manner.
However, his condition had to be stabilized before he could leave and that procedure took a very long time. Mrs. Allen finally broke down when her husband was removed from the ICU to the waiting ambulance.
